If you aren’t watching Revenge by now, I can’t even imagine why. It has quickly become one of my favorite dramas on television and I can’t get enough of the weekly twists and turns. There are sadly only a handful of episodes left this season and so much to wrap up. How will Daniel’s trial end? Will Emily ever get caught in her never-ending web of lies? Will she finally be able to take down the Graysons? And how do Nolan and Jack fit into this whole scenario? I recently had the chance to chat with Gabriel Mann (Nolan Ross), whose enthusiasm for the show is unmatched, and absolutely contagious. We talked about the big finale and tonight’s episode, Nolan’s love life, what he would like to see in season two and so much more.

So I think, just when you’ve seen it all, the show takes a completely new turn. And I’m pretty sure we haven’t seen anything yet. Tell me everything!
I can barely say anything, actually. What’s great is that somehow, as much fun as we had the first 15 episodes, with the whole fire and ice story, establishing all the characters and stuff like that, I don’t know what was in the water in the writer’s room, but the stuff they came up with to wrap up this season is (laughs) oh my gosh, I kind of don’t even know how to tease it. It’s so intense by the finale, I just think people are going to be in total and utter shock. What happens with some of the characters that you have come to know and love and hate and all of it…Such big, explosively bad things happen. I can’t (laughs)…I’m kind of still in shock, to be honest with you, that that is how we wrapped up the story, or at least this season’s story. Viewers are in for…(laughs) I don’t know. I don’t even know what to compare it to. Viewers who like the show, I think, will think that it’s perfect. Because I think it’s what people have come to love and expect of the show at this point. And boy, the writers stepped up big time. So yeah, I can’t wait.

I’m excited! There was so much speculation about the body on the beach. Did you have your suspicions? Did you expect it to be Daniel?
It was funny because I really for a long time thought no, it’s not Daniel. There’s no way it could be Daniel on the beach. But the way that they wrap everything up in such amazing secrecy, by the time we got to close to getting that script, I thought you know what? (Laughs) Maybe it is Daniel. Maybe it’s Josh’s character. I wouldn’t put it past them on this show, that’s the thing. The stakes are really high and one of the things that happens is that you need to be able to do very, very big things with principal characters, because it’s got a lot of impact and I think that’s what makes the show fun. But at the same time, it’s really tough because it’s a really tight group of people at this point and we take everything very personally. Even if it means were not going to see them or whatever. Because everybody can come back on Revenge, that’s the beauty, i.e. the flashback episode that’s coming up. And so you take some comfort in that — in knowing that there’s a very good possibility they will back around in some capacity sooner than later. But it is a family. And I really love having everybody around. And everybody I am extremely fond of everyone in very different ways. I’m completely enamored with everyone I get to work with on this show, so I don’t like when those bad things happen.

I remember thinking it’s got to be Daniel, and then I kept changing my mind. The way they did it was very clever.
Yeah, I thought that they handled it in really kind of the perfect way. At this point, if it hadn’t been Tyler, I can’t even imagine what else he would have gotten up to on the show because was totally out of control, out of his damn mind. So there was nothing else that was going to happen except he was going to strap a bomb to himself and blow up Grayson Manor or Nolan’s house or something or the Stowaway.

He would have done something crazy, he had to be stopped.
He had to go down. Although we do miss us some Tyler Berrol. As ill-fated as the Nolan/Tyler relationship was, every so often I’m like aw, I kind of miss that. Maybe one day there will be some more lovin’ coming Nolan’s way.

I hope so!
Me too! Me too.

That would be lovely.
I will tease there’s a little lovin’ coming my way before the season is over.

Ooh, very good.
It may not be the way anyone expects, on the show, per usual. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Nolan’s obviously still very involved in helping Emily with her big master plan. Are we going to see a lot of Nolan/Emily moments?
The thing with these characters is that regardless of their feelings toward one another, they’re very tied up together at this point. And even if in her heart, she would still like to lose me by the side of the road or whatever it may be, we just can’t walk away from each other that easily. For the time being, our fates are linked together. For good or for bad. And we will see how bad that actually is (laughs). We get up to a lot of trouble. All I can say is that by the end of the season, Nolan has learned a couple of tricks from Emily. (laughs)

Any more solo take-downs in Nolan’s future?
Hmmmm. I’m not going to say no. He’s been a very observant pupil of Emily Thorne, and she may be surprised at what he’s retained. We’ll see the results of that.

That’s exciting. And where are we going to see the Nolan/Jack friendship go as the season wraps up?
Oh, I’m so glad you you asked me this! It’s such an unusual, kind of perfect friendship, because in no kind of regular world would these two guys be in the same vicinity of each other. But somehow, in the circumstances of our show, these guys have become unlikely friends. And Nolan’s world at this point, at least certainly in the Hamptons, really revolves around Jack and Emily and to a certain degree, Declan. And so that relationship is key because if Jack hadn’t become such an ally to both of us, he probably would be going down really fast. There’s too many people and too much money [and he] could cause too much trouble. So in a sense, he kind of has to keep us close to him. Whether he knows that or not, I think will be revealed as the story goes, but Jack would not be in a good spot without Emily and Nolan’s help at this point. Especially with what happens with the trial coming up. He should stay close to the home fires, keep those home fires going. There’s some really interesting Jack stuff coming up and actually what’s really interesting is you’re going to get to see the origin of their relationship. And for me, that was very exciting because no one had really ever explained it. And I hadn’t even thought to ask how these guys originally met. I just kind of assumed they bumped into each other sort of every summer. But it’s much more than that. So you will get to see the origins of their friendship and I think that that’s a jumping off point for things to come.

And we saw the show venture a bit into New York City, are we going to see more of the Hamptons residents venture outside of the Hamptons?
Yeah. I think so. Gosh, by the time we end the season, we’ve got nowhere else to go but worldwide. There will be more fun in the big city. But I think for the time being, for the trial at the very least, everyone has been told to stick close to the summer island there. We will probably stick close to the beach but it does open up a new world for a lot of these characters. But I think so much of the identity of the show and the identity of these people is sort of linked with these summers that they spend [there], and certainly with this past summer where everything went haywire for everybody pretty much. I feel like that’s part of the mythology of the show at this point although it would be fun to jump on an international flight somewhere and see what happens with those characters. And I think there’s a very good chance you will.

And I imagine it’s not the last we’ve seen of fake Amanda.
Faux-Manda? Like my character says, (laughs) girlfriend just keeps popping up like the homicidal stripper version of wack-a-mole.

(laughs) Yes!
She cannot stay out of trouble, that one. It’s very complicated because of the nature of her friendship and her history with Emily, but she’s another person that knows too much, too. She’s a total live wire. You cannot count on her for two seconds to know what she’s going to get up to. And it’s usually exactly what she shouldn’t be getting up to, so yeah, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of (laughs) Faux-Manda.

So you guys have wrapped now and you’ve had a whole season to play in Nolan’s world. What has been your favorite part?
Aww, man. I couldn’t even name one thing. Because it’s really been the entirety of the experience and I wouldn’t have changed anything. Not any person, not any thing, not any circumstance. It’s been the most fun I’ve got to have on the job that I’ve worked on for the longest in my whole career. The fact that I can say that many, many, many, many months into a job is a real testament to how incredible this group of people is that I’m fortunate to work with. I could say it was getting dressed up in crazy Nolan gear. I could say it was the writers for giving me these amazing things to get to say. I could say it was the actors I get to work with [and] our relationship that transcended the show. I could say it was working with Mike Kelley and getting to explore the recesses of his twisted imagination. But all of those things collectively, I could say it was shooting on the west coast even though we’re supposed to be Hamptons-based and the feeling early on that this show will only really work if we shot it in the Hamptons but now I’ve come to love subbing every single beach city for east coast locations. It’s all of it. It’s the whole thing. And ultimately, it’s really the fans. That has been the best part, is the reactions that everyone has had. Because we could be having a great time making this but if no one else is enjoying it, it’s really not that much fun. So I think it’s really been the viewers and the fans that have made this something entirely special and unto itself and I think as a result, a lot of people in the industry have sat and taken notice. And I think you will see a lot of night time melodramas next fall. Fingers crossed people will come back to the original that kind of brought that whole genre back. But that’s up to us to do our job and tell a great story and to keep people coming back. And boy, the way they end this season, I can’t imagine that anyone who has invested any time in this show is not going to want to know what happens.

So is it safe to say that the finale ends on a really big cliffhanger of some sort.
O.M.G.

I’ll take that as a yes.
How about I just give you a straight up yes. Really the answer is YES, all capitals.

All capitals, twenty exclamation points.
At least three.

(laughs)
I cannot wait. I’m just so curious to see how people are going to react to this because it’s not what anyone is expecting. And it’s really big. It’s really big. Hold your breath. We will bring it and serve it up on a silver platter with clams and lobsters or something.

I expect no less. And where would you love to see Nolan go in season two?
I would like to get into the mystery that is Nolan’s story. I would be really curious for everyone to get to see, including myself, the workings of NolCorp. I never go into the office or anything. I guess I do everything from my iPad and cell phone. But I’d be really curious to see a bit more of Nolan’s world. And really to continue to dig into the origins of he and Emily and David Clark’s story and also maybe to explore Nolan’s family life a little bit. A lot of that is out of my own curiosity about learning more about the writers’ vision for this character. Because I can make up a million things in my head, but then they’ll throw a story line at me that throws all of that out the window. So, yeah, you’re going to get to see a little bit of those things before the season is done though and I just want more!

More Nolan! Team Nolan!
More Nolan love. More Nolan lovin’. He’s just a lonely guy.

He deserves it!
I think so. And I’m curious to see what that does to him and how that affects the way he relates to everybody else and the way he puts himself out there to everybody in the world. And I think, if I have my way, Nolan might be sporting a little bit of a different look.

New hair!
Mmmm…something…something to keep it fresh and interesting. If not for anybody else but just for me. I knew that it was time for something when on Twitter Kevin Williamson said, “Gabe, it’s time for Nolan to get a haircut.”

(laughs) You were like, okay I guess it really is.
I was like, you are preaching to the choir. But yeah, something new, something fresh, something you haven’t seen yet. But we’ve still got a mother load of stuff to get through before that. I am very excited for everyone to see the finale and the flashback episode and all the goings on in between. Oh my gosh, now that I’m thinking about it, there’s so much stuff! Alright, alright, I’m excited for all of it. Every single episode from here to the end is chock full o’ deception, surprises, left turns, twists, new…[stops himself]

I know, I know you can’t say a lot. What can you tease about tonight’s episode, Absolution. What can we expect?
19 will…oh my gosh. It will cement Emily’s plans and also take them in a potentially new direction. That’s as much as I’m going to tease about that.

Be sure to tune in tonight at 10 PM to ABC for a brand new episode of Revenge!